Something Bad
"Yeah, 'n th'pairs're still holdin'. Bu' I been cycling dust through m'vents since. Place was filthy, but 'en, I dun think a lotter folk come in their alt mode fer 'pairs, but I's worried what'd snap if I..." "Look, I really need to get going. Glad you weren't chopped up for parts, but I have a lot more deliveries to do. Besides, shouldn't you be getting on with your own work?" "Oh... yeah, 'course, lookit me.... yammerin' on 'en time is shanix... later 'en." This conversation occurs between Swivel and another courier, who were both leaving a small cramped building with the faded sign reading 'courier services'. Although it lights up, a combination of poor power supply and maintenance with a film of grime makes it very dim. The one mech she was talking to and who had cut her off runs off, waving back at her as he does so. Swivel on the other hand just kicks a piece of litter and glances about herself. After a moment she thinks better of this action and so she walks over and picks it up, holding on to it as she walks down the street in search of a public waste disposal bin. A large community waste receptacle is not far away, sitting in front of a building that is even more dilapidated than the courier services one Swivel had just left. It's overflowing with garbage--seems the drones hadn't come around in a while. Or disposables or whoever was supposed to deal with it. But this certainly isn't Iacon, so perhaps it's expected. What probably -isn't- expected is Blurr crouched on the other side of it. Is he spying on Swivel, or looking for someone else? There's only one way to potentially find out. As Swivel walks by the overfull recepticle she tosses the piece of garbage into it with the intent of continuing to keep on walking casually by. So much for cool and nonchalant because the piece junk hits another object within it and bounces off to one side, landing right in front of Blurr. Hearing the rattle of the object Swivel spun around to rectify her mis-throw and... A piece of garbage lands in front of Blurr, and he looks up to find Swivel passing by. He smiles and picks it up and fixes the miss for her, tossing it on top of the pile of trash as he stands. "Hey Swivel." he greets, nodding in acknowledgment to her presence. Straightening up abruptly, Swivel stares at Blurr for a moment or two. She glances about herself and then looks straight back at Blurr. She opens her mouth as if to say something, but nothing comes out, so she shuts it. She looks at the waste disposal receptacle, then back at Blurr. Once again she is looking both ways down the street, and then turns her head away from Blurr, squints her optics, and looks at him sideways as if her peripheral vision would show something different. She opens her mouth again and finally says, "Uh.... Hi." "Hi." Blurr chuckles and seems to relax, leaning against the wall of the old building and crossing his arms in front of him, watching her awkward process of figuring out how to respond to him. He tilts his hand to one side curiously. "You okay?" She looked kind of shellshocked or something. Well let's review. Everytime Swivel encounters Blurr, there is almost always a highly heated, very personal argument and they part on bad terms. So Blurr standing there all smiles and friendliness is just incongruent with previous patterns. Nonetheless, Swivel finally manages to find her own smile because she knows she is not in the middle of anything even remotely illegal or suspicious, so there is a very small chance he will try and make her out to be a worse person than she feels she is. "Nnnnnn, yupper, tickety-boo. Jus din s'epct t'see big shot celeb Blurr crouchin' by some garbage." Yeah. Play it cool until red flags appear. Well, more of them anyway. Just seeing Blurr sends them up, for Swivel, at any rate. Blurr shrugs. He may or may not have been searching for new test subjects for his handler, or searching for more access points to sabotage this underground datanetwork that Hot Rod has set up. "I guess so." he sighs, glancing at the ground. "Look, I'm sorry if I upset you earlier. I might not agree with you, but..." Another sigh. "I'm sorry about Turntable. But I can't just not follow protocol. You know what I mean?" Now here's the dangerous part. Swivel puts her hands on her hips. Will she think better of working her yappy mouth? Probably not. "Yeah, yeah, you d'yer job an' I do mine an' 'ope we dun 'ave problems with each other, yeah?" Swivel says. Perhaps she is being wise for a change. She rubs the back of her nackguard and glances around. "But I doubt ya came 'ere t'pologise t'summun ya accused o' betrayin' ya. Ya were REAL mad at me. 'Ent ya still mad?" "No," Blurr shakes his head. "I know I was mad. But I know you were just...concerned. It's good to be concerned about people's lives. -I'm- concerned about people's lives." Apparently disposables don't count as people, though. "You're right though, I'm didn't come here specifically to apologize to you." The racer pauses, glancing around nervously as if making sure no one's listening in. He lowers his voice. "Some of the rebels around here are keeping some kind of datanet up here, and using it to circulate a bunch of sensitive intel that might compromise security." From perched on her hips to being folded over her chest, Swivel does a lot of posing with her arms. She tilts her head one way and then the other. "And..... it's b'ind a dump?" Swivel asks raising her optic ridges and then looking at the waste disposal unit as if expecting to see something extraordinary. She stares at it long and hard and then looks back at Blurr. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh....." She then shrugs her shoulders. "So........ uh............ what ever /did/ 'appen to Turntable?" Blurr laughs, shaking his head. "No. Well. I mean, it -could-, I guess." He doesn't really answer the question of what exactly he was doing hiding behind that dumpster, though. He shrugs at the question of what happened to Turntable. "I took him to security's local HQ here. They probably detained him there for a while, and then transferred him somewhere else, I dunno." Swivel nods as he speaks, tapping her index finger on her upper arm making a light and rhythmic tink tink tink. She rolls her head back and stares up at the mostly obscured sky for a moment, and then back at Blurr. "'E was innocent..." Swivel insists with more of an edge in her voice than she had used in their previous conversation. "...in the crime ya took 'im in for. I'da thought 'e'd be released by now, but, eh.... mebbe 'e had a rap for previous thin's." Swivel glances about herself. She knows better. She knows different. "So why are ya doin' all this stuff? I a'ways thought you was jus' a racer 'til... tha's before I met ya, I mean." Look at her trying to be all clever. "Ibex get t'small fer ya?" Blurr shrugs again. "Look, I'm not saying he was guilty of stealing or whatever." he sighs. "Like I said, rules and regulations, anyone found in possession of stolen goods or contraband has to be detained. I mean I don't even know, maybe he was released. But yeah, it depends on his record and whatever." He concludes, making a dismissive gesture before moving on in the conversation to why he's doing this. "Well I was just a racer, but when you can move as fast as I do, you tend to end up with a lot of down time on your hands. I used to just...mess around gambling and playing anything I could possibly get my hands on, but recently I realized that this world is far too slagged up to sit around on my skidplate doing nothing about it." Every once in a while Swivel will do something like shift her weight or scratch the side of her nose. The femme has never been very good at staying still. Perhaps she shares some of that same restlessness Blurr probably had as a youth. Perhaps not. She nods as he explains his change in vocation and mission. "An they letcha do 'at?" Swivel asks seeming a bit surprised, but also a bit suspicious. After all, she's used to one function and one function only. That's the rule she'd lived under her entire life. "I mean... uh... oh Primus I do NOT want to say this, but the question is is in me mind.... but if yer better suited to, oh I kinna b'lieve /I'm/ suggestin' this, but, er, wellum, yer good at this, mebbe better used to, uh, spy 'n such... mebbe the assessors dinna, er, make the right call 'en assignin' yer function? There I said it dun 'urt me!" SWivel puts her hands out in a placating manner and steps back. Yes, Swivel's right. It is weird, isn't it? That is, to anyone who doesn't know the truth behind Blurr's creation. The speedster nods. "Yeah, I mean, I guess security is always looking for able bots to join. Makes sense, with all the chaos that's been going on these cycles, right?" he reasons. He chuckles when she backs away. "Hey, don't worry. I'm not an assessor." Swivel slowly, VERY SLOWLY, lowers her hands and stares at Blurr for a while. And then she throws her arms up in the air and looks up for a moment, before letting them drop and dangle at her sides. "I jus'dun getcha. Y'all are RAWR THE LAW AND SYSTEM... an' 'en y'ent...." Swivel rubs her upper arms and then looks at him slowly up and down, as if checking to see if maybe he were an imposter. "'Ent ya gunna book me fer speakin' out 'gainst the system 're sumtin'? Tha's wot a lotter peeps say - y'kinna e'en 'ave yer 'pinions 'enmore 'less they go'th wuther gov's aboot.... 'course I keeo thinkin' peeps 'oo say tha' are 'zaggeratin' an' blowin' gov corruption outter 'portion," Swivel chatters. She glances about herself somewhat apprehensively. "'N all the sorter thin's 'bout 'em secret 'eadquarters at the IAA doin' awful thin's t'peeps no'one will miss... yanno... like Turntable..." Okay. Swivel is stepping into really dangerous territory now as she levels a glance at Blurr. "Bu tha's just conspiracy talk." Blurr just stares at Swivel as she goes on about the government and having opinions, and...the IAA? Now he just looks like she's sprouted some kind of otherwordly flower out of her head or something. Then he nods quickly at her final comment, appearing somewhat relieved. "Oh, yeah, definitely. There's a lot of crazy conspiracy theory talk out there, that's for sure. If you believed it all, you'd be on paranoid and unhappy bot, heh. Well I'm glad you don't, anyway. See, you're saying the assessors might have been wrong and stuff right now, and no one's arresting you for it. I'm telling you, they're exaggerating everything." Either she's naive or too clever for her own good. It's hard to tell with Swivel, sometimes, and she nods eagerly. But the reaction Blurr gave at the meantion of IAA is noted by Swivel. However, as he begins to talk about his relief, she smiles. "Yeah, yanno, I dun wanner be lookin' o'er me shoulder all th'time 'an worryin' an' stuff, an e'en b'fraid t'report crimes in case they're actually sponsored BY the law an' I b'come a loose end or sumtin'... an all this stuf 'bout rewritin' people and whatnot... crazy 'speriments. If I kinna trust the law 'n such, oo can I trust?" Swivel places her hands behind her back. "and 'oo can they trust 'en we dun trust 'em? I dinna like the idea o' this, uh, wotstheword.... uh...." She holds her hands together and them pulls them apart as if to try and illustrate what she is trying to get at, "....divide? Uh.... hostility, yeah? Us versus 'em? See, 'spite wot ya may say or think o' me, /I/ loik m'job an' the system tha trained me fer it and placed me innit. I like t'know that people 'oo do wrong get punished, so's I kin feel safe, but also know if I do no wrong, I 'ent at odds with the law." Swivel sighs and looks around. "But tha's not the truth 'enmore, is it? I think peeps're exaggeratin the corruption... but I seen that summit's there wi'm'own peepers. You yerself. You dinna need to 'it Turntable fer pleadin'. E's wun't resistin' 'er a danger t'ya. An' don't deny you was bein' brutal. BECAUSE, you were. An' those 'splosives in the tunnels? Ya, ya tried t'vince me notter go in there t'save me, I see tha'now. Ya wun't hidin' it cause o' guilt, coz ya din wanner see an innocent blow up.... but if I'd come jus' moments after ya'd dun left, I'da gone boom. They was put 'ere to get rid o' crim'nals, but I take those routes t'void muggins 'n scavengers 'n fer shortcuts. I coulda been an 'acceptable loss'.... do you.... do you.... well, d'ya like me e'en the littlest bit?" where the pits did that last question come from? Blurr raises an optic ridge at Swivel's long rant. She sure is a talkative one, might even rival the speedster himself. Though she does speak at a normal -rate-, even if she has an odd accent. "Right, but why wouldn't it be true any more?" He asks, regarding the law keeping her safe. "I mean, yeah, I was upset with you and I vented on Turntable because he happened to be there, but don't we all do that sometimes? And I didn't expect that anyone else would be using those tunnels other than the groups we were after--it's really lucky that you showed up while I was still there, otherwise you--you would've--you know...yeah you would've become an 'acceptable loss' and I wasn't going to let that happen on -my- watch." That last question does take him a bit by surprise. "I--uhwell--ImeanofcourseIdo." He blurts. "Yeah. See, I like you, Swivel. If I didn't I wouldn't be talking to you right now. And I wouldn't have tried so hard to save you back there." The way the femme has been ranting and meandering through topics it really makes it difficult to gauge the femme's headspace for most. Perhaps even she is uncertain of where her mind is going, but she seems to have given it a very long leash. A long leash and a head full of helium. And her expression is one of just wonder and bright, wide eyes. Whether this is wonder at Blurr's answer to her question or wonder that she even asked. "Well yer a'ways mad at me," Swivel says. 'But I recently came t'think, wellum, sometimes it's the peeps we care 'bout th'get us th'ost mad. Bad people, folk we'dun loik, they get our, um.... rage? Disdain? Yeah, disdain, th'sounds loik a good word, kinner classy and all shuddery... but peeps we think well of? Thye make us mad." Swivel rubs her cheek. "An tha's why yas drive m'nuts though I dunno y'much. But I think, no, I feel sumtin bad is 'appenin' 'ind the scenes in the gov'ment. I dun think it's as awful as folk like O'Rod say. Law's been good t'me moster m'life s'long as I stay on it's good side... but I feel almost as if... it's demandin' more 'en it used ta of citizens. Is it 'coz peep are gettin' more criminal? 'En I get t'thinkin'... why are they? I jus' get this sense o'... uh.... despair from lotter people... despair, 'n anger, 'n all th'sorter neg'tiv'ty." Swivel begins to pace just a few steps in one direction before stopping and looking down. "I dun think things're as bad... but I fear they might 'get' bad. Do ya.... d'ya ever feel sumtin' 'ent right with the thin's ya put yer faith in.... but ya kinna put yer finger on it, so ya jus' wanner ignore it coz it's been good til' now? Coz tha's 'ow I been feelin', an tha's a lotter wot's been makin' me butt 'eads with ya an' spout all kinner things 'coz I dunno what IS wrong, but something IS." She then spins on her heel and paces back closer to Blurr. "An' I guess I jus keep reachin' out t'all the wrong people." Blurr shrugs, watching her pace back and forth. "Well maybe you've just been hanging around the wrong sorts of people, Swivel." He suggests. "You can't possibly think -everyone's- like that. With all the negativity and despair and whatever. There are always gonna be -those- people who are never happy with anything no matter what happens." The racer shrugs. "People like Hot Rod, and Blast Off, and the rest of Megatron's faithful following." He shakes his head at her question of whether he's ever felt something wasn't right. "Can't say I have. Typically if something wasn't right I had no idea until it finally came and jumped on me." He says regretfully. "I mean, I'm sure there are some things in the system that are flawed or bad but it's not like I can do anything about it." With occasional nods, Swivel listens carefully to Blurr's very clean and very straightforward answers. Very little lack of resolve. Unlike Swivel whose opinions and thoughts seem to be all over the place. However, she is not afraid to show her confusion or even her lack of conviction. In a way, Swivel seems almost vulnerable. "Everyone believes they're right, an 'en they talk, it all sounds, yanno, reas'nable. I kin b'lieve 'em so easily 'en I'm there with 'em. 'En left t'think, if I give myself o'er to it, it begins t'all seem so." Swivel trails off and lifts her arm, gesturing to the sky, "out there. An' roight now yer sayin' all the thin's I wanner 'ear 'coz I dun like the idea o' the peep thatter s'posed to be leadin' me in the right direction 'n keepin' me safe an' the world functionin' 'avin' gone bad. An' yeah nuttin's perfect. I know that. But peep like O'Rod bring up really good points, 'n make me question, an' tha' makes me uncomfortable. An' one thinger I kinna get b'ind is disposables. Tha's one flaw tha's been buggin' me. They're individuals, an they think an' feel like I do. I'm getting' t'know somer the cleaners I used t'think were jus, I'unno, machines with no, yanno, thoughts o'their own. An much as I kinner like ya, I dunno if I kin feel right 'bout likin' ya cos ya killed one fer doin' it's job coz it was inconvenient. If it knew y'was law, it'd prolly n'said 'enthin. They're real earnest in keepin' th'laws." Swivel smiles, almost giggling a little. "Y'should see 'ow they b'ave 'round O'Rod. Took 'im forever t'convince 'em 'e wunna gunna 'urt 'em, coz all they saw was a crim'nal, an tha's all they needed t'shun 'im or run in fear." Swivel sigh, releasing that moment of merry recollection. "I wanner 'elp 'em l'il YX units. I wanner see 'em ge'the same 'tection o'the law I got. I wanner see tha they dun jus' get sent t'the scrap 'eap if it's cheaper t'replace 'em than 'pair 'em. Does tha' make me a bad person? Coz these're the thin's I feel, but before, I dinna mind their treatment, but it's coz I figured they was 'sposable 'coz they wunt people. But they're so much like me and I gosh, I jus' love those li'l fellas." Blurr smirks a little. "Well, sounds to me like you need to stop listening to people like Hot Rod, then. If you can avoid having to feel uncomfortable and insecure then why not? You know it's all just conspiracy theory, people like believing it because it makes them feel better about themselves because no matter what they do it's still not as bad as the government tampering with people's processors, right? Plus, it's -exciting-. Hot Rod's the sort of person who is attracted to anything exciting, no matter how ridiculous it sounds." Which is without a doubt true. He shrugs, absently plucking at a piece of discarded wiring that protrudes out of the overfilled waste receptacle. "Look, I'm really sorry about YX, okay? I just couldn't afford to let him blow my cover, there wasn't exactly time to sit there and have a -conversation- with him about whether he should get on the bad side of the law or not. I know it's hard for you to understand but in that line of work there have to be acceptable losses sometimes, no matter how much you try to minimize them." "Yeah, I dun unnerstand. Peeps say I'm... uh.... wos the word... nnnn... neeve? Knave?" Swivel begins to snap her fingers as she tries to locate a word. "Naive, I think." Blurr laughs. "Yeah they say that about me, too." Probably because it's true. Well, it -is- actually. "Just don't believe everything you hear from rebellious types or other questionable sources, and things will get better I'm sure." He says, patting on her on the back. "Well, better get back to it...one more thing though. Where -did- you hear that bit about the IAA?" "NAIVE! YES!" Swivel seems perhaps a bit too excited about the right word being found, even if it was by someone else. "Tha's th'one! I'm naive. I dunno if it's really such a bad thing, though, yeah? I jus wanner think the best o' thin's.... thought I dinna think the best o' you lotter times... but I think I came t'realise, yer prolly jus' as...." She thinks for a moment or two. "Eh.... I dunno the word... ya dun seem confused, ya seem t'know wot yer 'bout.... but I jus' sense there's sumtin' there we gots in common that I din see b'fore." Swivel playfully hits herself on the side of the head. "Na'so good with th'words, am I? S'prised I wun tossed...." She pauses and looks at Blurr for a moment. "Eh? Where'd I 'ear 'bout it? Le'see... I was askin' 'round 'bout, uh.... Turntable, tha's it." Swivel rolls back onto her heels and then forward onto her toes, then settles back to an even balance of her pedes. "Lesseeee...." She thinks long and 'ard. "I think t'wos O'Rod... so I guess there's not a lotter credibility there." Swivel rubs her cheek. "You sound so sure everythin's the way it otter be... but dun ya ever feel jus a bit scared.... er, wait, y'said y'ad t'get goin'. Nevermind. I'll stop yammerin' atcha an' askin' questions. Yeah. Definitely O'Rod. But 'e called 'round some other peeps fer the info. Na'much more I kin say 'bout it. I was askin' im all sorter thin's, coz I's originally wanted to talk t'im 'bout YX units.... oh right, ya wanner get goin'. Already said I'd stop yammerin' an 'et ya go, an' there I go, talkin' m'vocoder off 'gain. Kay. I mean it Zipped shut, gonna let ya g'bout yer job." To signify this, Swivel makes a zipping motion with her index finger and thumb pinched together and drags them across the length of her lips. Blurr is totally not scared and confused deep down. Okay, yes he is. Probably even more so than Swivel. But he'd never show it, not to her! Nope, he's the picture of confidence! "Pfff." he shakes his head. "I figured it was Hot Rod. Yeah, definitely not a lot of credibility there." Even naive little Swivel admits that! Though there is a hint of...concern in his optics for just a moment, as if despite his words he is worried that Rod -might- not have been -completely- off. Or maybe he knows that it -is- true, and is alarmed that someone's caught wind of it. "I used to be scared. But now I know my place in this world. And I know what I have to do to make things right." He replies, his voice brimming with resolve. "But hey, if you ever want to talk more, just give me a call, alright? I gave you my hailing frequency, right? Yeah, I did." FWIP! He quickly zooms off, disappearing in a blur of motion. Well at least now Swivel can be certain that wasn't an imposter. <* End of Poses *>